After learning to do rolling hops I am finding myself doing more of them in muni, esp. with my 24.
On the street, I ride up to the obstacle and adjust my angle toward it until my cranks are in the power position right before the obstacle. In muni, esp. in tighter spaces this is a lot harder. What do others do? Is there some other trick to this. If my cranks end up not being in the right position I end up stopping turning to the side and hoping over, which isn’t has much fun and stops momentum.
What else can you do if anything about rolling hops in narrow spaces? Does it help to learn how to do it from the non-dominant foot?
I’ll be watching this. I’ve never been much good at rolling hops, especially with my non-dominant foot. Like you said, if it feels like my feet won’t line up right, I’ll hop early and turn sideways, then hop up/over the object.
Most times I just slam my wheel into whatever-it-is and hope I can roll over it.
Yeah I often just roll into things too, lean back and power through. This is a lot easier on a 29, but I’ve really taken to the 24 now, esp with shorter 137mm cranks. I am having fun on pretty technical trails.
With the 24 it is simply not as easy to slam into things and ride over. I have to either side-hop or do a rolling hop. And rolling hops are really fun and addictive.
I’m a fan of the just bumping up it aswell, or sometimes i prehop to get my pedals in the right place so that im landing just before the obsticle then hop up it wich is only slightly more practical than the side hop. I think a good way would be to get used to hoping with your less dominant foot forward, then start Tring to hop in all pedal positions wich is what im planing to try (unless I get convinced otherwise by people who know what they are talking about)
You can prehop to get your pedals in the position that you want. I’ve found that if I’m riding a small wheel I can actually hop a few inches with the cranks in most positions. Or of course I’ve found that I can usually just roll over anything that I can rolling hop.
Seriously, forget about having your feet in the “right position”, and DON’T prehop for a rolling hop, save the prehops for when you plan to stop and hop an obstacle.
I can roll some pretty big stuff at speed and I never worry about foot position, I just run at the obstacle, rise up and pull on my handle, go up and over, then roll on. I don’t try to clear the obstacle though I often do, for the most part I am absorbing the obstacle and letting the uni move enough so I don’t bounce off.
You could try rolling hops down a grade covered with small to medium rocks, run at them and “jump them”, do it regardless of where your feet are positioned, gradually build up to larger rocks.
If it’s to big to roll, then do a static hop like you would for stairs.
-You could zig zag a bit before so your pedals line up. Practice riding along then up curbs.
-Do a small rolling hop before, so your cranks will line up.
-Or you could do a half rev just before the obstacle so your dominant foot is forward.
KH wrote in his book to mountain unicycling that you could either try riding an arc to get the fitting pedal position - or - stop, adjust your pedal-position and move your unicycle the way back you would ride forward afterwards …
I know … Not a satisfying answer … I hope to get more out of his book
This topis is very interesting and I’ll stay tuned!
I practice my rolling hops on the sidewalk/street. Pick a crack/manhole cover/obstacle a few feet ahead and attempt to hop over it no matter what position my feet are in (switch foot, non-power position, it doesn’t matter). That way, there are no ill consequences for a bad hop. Then you pick another one that is a few feet ahead and do it again. It is working for me and I am getting way more comfortable with my rolling hops on the trail. Switch foot is no longer a problem and being in a non-power position is getting much better.
I agree with tribe, you have to learn to use your momentum in muni to get you over whatever you need to get over. Even if you can only hop a little bit when your cranks are vertical, you should be able to go pretty far. While you’re in the air, rotate your cranks to be horizontal and you’ll get a better landing.
Great post on rolling hops. I ride distance just for exercise. Learning to hop over high curbs would be helpful. I think I currently keep my seat too high to get into position to hop and I generally like max air pressure in the tire. I haven’t ridden my 24" since I bought the 29". Should I take out the 24", reduce the pressure in the tire and lower the seat with the 24" to practice hops, or adjust the 29" to practice the hops?
You might even lower the pressure on your 19 or 20 and practice on that if you have it. That’s how I learned to do rolling hops.
Next thing I want to try is get more height. I saw a good tutorial about trying to touch the tire while jumping which gets your body to fold in half. That gets the wheel up to be able to get on top of things like picnic tables and the like.
Thanks for recommending the 20" to learn hops with. I took it out when I got home from work. It took me a little time to adjust to the 20". I learned on one about three years ago and haven’t used it since. I did a few rolling hops within half an hour. I guess I’ll practice one more time on the 20" and than move on to the 24". I’m not sure if it was the lower seat or smaller wheel that helped . I guess I’ll find out when I try them on the bigger wheels.
